Letter to a Friend. Professor Henrique Bicha Castelo

Professor Henrique Bicha Castelo wrote a letter to his friend João Lobo Antunes, who passed away on October 27.

The FMUL newsletter publishes the text.

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Letter to a Friend

“Parce que c’était lui;
Parce que c’était moi”
Montaigne

João

It’s 12h 24m on Saturday, 29 October 2016

I just got home and I wanted to write these lines to tell you, with the ingenuity of the 18-year-old teenager from Alentejo you met, that I’m sorry for your departure and I know that it will not be easy for this emptiness to be appeased over time.

With your usual discretion, you have left us poorer and lonelier today, after a long period of suffering, which you faced with great courage, lucidity and serenity and greatly increased the respect and great admiration of all who knew you.

I promise not to bore you with what I’m going to say to you here.

The first and most important is, following our last conversation over an entire afternoon, to reassure you about one of your concerns and to tell you that despite the superhuman toughness of the last few weeks, you have remained the same until the end.

There were difficult, very difficult days, which you overcame with determined resignation, superior dignity, courage, and the elegance with which you have always lived.